Tesla’s robots seem to have evolved from super-powered X-Men, here to save the world, into pitchfork-wielding devils tormenting the lost souls condemned to Production Hell. As Elon Musk admits, that “excessive automation at Tesla was a mistake.” There are plenty of auto industry veterans ready to say “I told you so.”
Just as a super quick note for those who have been eagerly waiting for an all-wheel drive Tesla Model 3 or a high-performance Tesla Model 3, the news is that Tesla will start inviting people to order these versions of the Model 3 next week.
Nope, you still can’t get anything other than black for the interior of a Tesla Model 3 if you order one today — well, black + that one wooden dash feature that I have to admit I love. However, if you want a Tesla Model S or Model X, Tesla just updated its interior options (h/t Hypebeast). If you scroll over to the Model S Design page or Model X Design page, you now have the following interior options:
The most popular CleanTechnica stories of the past week were all about Ford hybrids, the Toyota Prius, clean coal … oh, wait, no. As usual, the company with the most popular, most compelling electric vehicles on the market got the most attention. Check out the 20 stories of the past week that got the most reader attention.
In the Q1 2018 earnings call on Wednesday, there was an Elon Musk who clearly was not in the mood to be nice to Wall Street and the financial press.
I am not a Tesla shareholder, so listening to Elon Musk on the Tesla Q1 2018 conference call was absolutely enthralling to me. You can tell he is really tired of all the Chicken Little’s screaming “the sky is falling!” With mostly good humor, a few stiff interjections, and a hang up, he made plenty of news in the conference call. He gave a very short intro, basically saying that he is finally pleased with production of the Model 3.
Today, as it does every month, Tesla shared its quarterly update in an earnings letter that precedes its quarterly investor earnings call (where analysts are able to poke and prod for additional detail). Below are what we considered to be the production highlights.
It’s that time of month again — the beginning of the month. With regards to the Tesla Model 3 and CleanTechnica, that means we ask for your take on last month’s Model 3 production and delivery totals.
One month ago, we got an email from IHS Markit. The market analysis firm had a totally unsurprising yet also shocking story to share — Tesla [TSLA] was a dramatically shorted stock. It’s unsurprising because this has been TSLA’s fate for years — it’s a favorite of stock shorters. However, it’s shocking because: 1) People and companies shorting TSLA have gotten absolutely burned in recent years and even months. 2) Model 3 production is ramping up — it’s certainly not at full speed and there have indeed been delays, but production is ramping up.
An internal email from Tesla CEO Elon Musk to all Tesla employees was obtained by Jalopnik and provides insights into Tesla’s progress to date on Model 3 production rates as well as the path forward for Model 3.
